Order Of Stimulus Presentation Research Articles

Effects of stimulus presentation order during auditory-visual conditional discrimination training for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Children with autism spectrum disorder are typically taught conditional discriminations using a match-to-sample arrangement. Consideration should be given to the temporal order in which antecedent stimuli (the sample and comparison stimuli) are presented during match-to-sample trials, as various arrangements have been used in the extant literature. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effects of four stimulus presentation orders on the acquisition of auditory-visual conditional discriminations. The study included participants from a clinically relevant population (three children with autism spectrum disorder), employed clinically relevant teaching procedures, and included two presentation formats not included in previous comparison evaluations (simultaneous and sample-first with re-presentation conditions). Results were found to be learner-specific; that is, a different stimulus presentation format was most efficient for each participant. We provide suggestions to evaluate stimulus control topographies and enhance experimental control in match-to-sample arrangements.

Visual Simultaneity Judgments Activate a Bilateral Frontoparietal Timing System.

In everyday life, we often make judgments regarding the sequence of events, for example, deciding whether a baseball runner's foot hit the plate before or after the ball hit the glove. Numerous studies have examined the functional correlates of temporal processing using variations of the temporal order judgment and simultaneity judgment (SJ) tasks. To perform temporal order judgment tasks, observers must bind temporal information with identity and/or spatial information relevant to the task itself. SJs, on the other hand, require observers to detect stimulus asynchrony but not the order of stimulus presentation and represent a purer measure of temporal processing. Some previous studies suggest that these temporal decisions rely primarily on right-hemisphere parietal structures, whereas others provide evidence that temporal perception depends on bilateral TPJ or inferior frontal regions (inferior frontal gyrus). Here, we report brain activity elicited by a visual SJ task. Our methods are unique given our use of two orthogonal control conditions, discrimination of spatial orientation and color, which were used to control for brain activation associated with the classic dorsal ("where/how") and ventral ("what") visual pathways. Our neuroimaging experiment shows that performing the SJ task selectively activated a bilateral network in the parietal (TPJ) and frontal (inferior frontal gyrus) cortices. We argue that SJ tasks are a purer measure of temporal perception because they do not require observers to process either identity or spatial information, both of which may activate separate cognitive networks.

Processing order in dual-task situations: The "first-come, first-served" principle and the impact of task order instructions.

When two overlapping tasks are processed, they hit a bottleneck at a central processing stage that prevents simultaneous processing of the two tasks. Thus far, however, the factors determining the processing order of the tasks at the bottleneck are unknown. The present study was designed to (re)investigate whether the arrival times of the two tasks at the central bottleneck are a key determinant of the processing order (cf. Sigman & Dehaene, 2006). To this end, we implemented a visual-auditory dual task with a random stimulus order, in which we manipulated arrival time by prolonging the initial, perceptual processing stage (stimulus analysis) of the visual task and compared the effects of this manipulation with those of one impacting the central bottleneck stage of the visual task. Additionally, we implemented two instruction conditions: Participants were told to respond either in the order of stimulus presentation or in the order they preferred. The manipulation of the visual perception stage led to an increase in task response reversals (i.e., the response order was different from the order of stimulus presentation), whereas there was no such increase when the bottleneck stage was manipulated. This pattern provides conclusive evidence that the processing order at the bottleneck is (at least in part) determined by the arrival times of the tasks at that point. Reaction time differences between the two instruction conditions indicated that additional control processes are engaged in determining task processing order when the participants are expressly told to respond in the order of stimulus presentation.

Individual differences in first- and second-order temporal judgment.

The ability of subjects to identify and reproduce brief temporal intervals is influenced by many factors whether they be stimulus-based, task-based or subject-based. The current study examines the role individual differences play in subsecond and suprasecond timing judgments, using the schizoptypy personality scale as a test-case approach for quantifying a broad range of individual differences. In two experiments, 129 (Experiment 1) and 141 (Experiment 2) subjects completed the O-LIFE personality questionnaire prior to performing a modified temporal-bisection task. In the bisection task, subjects responded to two identical instantiations of a luminance grating presented in a 4deg window, 4deg above fixation for 1.5 s (Experiment 1) or 3 s (Experiment 2). Subjects initiated presentation with a button-press, and released the button when they considered the stimulus to be half-way through (750/1500 ms). Subjects were then asked to indicate their ‘most accurate estimate’ of the two intervals. In this way we measure both performance on the task (a first-order measure) and the subjects’ knowledge of their performance (a second-order measure). In Experiment 1 the effect of grating-drift and feedback on performance was also examined. Experiment 2 focused on the static/no-feedback condition. For the group data, Experiment 1 showed a significant effect of presentation order in the baseline condition (no feedback), which disappeared when feedback was provided. Moving the stimulus had no effect on perceived duration. Experiment 2 showed no effect of stimulus presentation order. This elimination of the subsecond order-effect was at the expense of accuracy, as the mid-point of the suprasecond interval was generally underestimated. Response precision increased as a proportion of total duration, reducing the variance below that predicted by Weber’s law. This result is consistent with a breakdown of the scalar properties of time perception in the early suprasecond range. All subjects showed good insight into their own performance, though that insight did not necessarily correlate with the veridical bisection point. In terms of personality, we found evidence of significant differences in performance along the Unusual Experiences subscale, of most theoretical interest here, in the subsecond condition only. There was also significant correlation with Impulsive Nonconformity and Cognitive Disorganisation in the sub- and suprasecond conditions, respectively. Overall, these data support a partial dissociation of timing mechanisms at very short and slightly longer intervals. Further, these results suggest that perception is not the only critical mitigator of confidence in temporal experience, since individuals can effectively compensate for differences in perception at the level of metacognition in early suprasecond time. Though there are individual differences in performance, these are perhaps less than expected from previous reports and indicate an effective timing mechanism dealing with brief durations independent of the influence of significant personality trait differences.

Cognitive Characterization of Air‐Flow Stimulus

SUMMARYExtra‐high‐quality audio devices, which are reproducible sound of broadband, have appeared in recent years. Such audio devices of broadband can feel like a deeper sense of realism as an air field by feeling the vibration of the air with entire body. This technology is expected application as sense of presentation technology. Using this technology, development of the new stimulus medium that is the field generating device, such as wrapped up in air is enabled. The purpose of this study is to create a completely new sense with the airflow stimulus termed “air sensation” by using the air field. In this study, we measured the psychophysical quantities to clarify the cognitive characterization of air sensation as a basic examination. Specifically, we measured the absolute thresholds to detect the air‐flow stimulus and sensitivity characteristics with respect to the strength of the stimulus. Consequently, it was revealed that cognitive characterizations vary with the properties of signal waveform, stimulus presentation site, and stimulus presentation order.

Injury-Related Reductions in Skilled Visuomotor Learning Revealed by Single Trial Analysis and Response Time Variability

Classical psychometric tests emphasize measures of central tendency as it relates to response times, contact times, and errors. More sophisticated techniques, however, may complement neurophysiological measures of neuroplasticity in response to behavioral interventions or changes in intrinsic state. PURPOSE: To determine whether learning on a skilled lower extremity visuomotor task was affected by prior ACL injury. METHODS: Eighteen healthy women between 18 and 32 yr participated. Nine women served as controls; nine others had unilateral ACL reconstruction between 6 months and 5 years from the start of the investigation. All participants completed 120 trials of a choice reaction test with a Stroop-like effect and randomly-ordered stimulus presentation order (3 sets of 40 repetitions with 30 sec rest between sets and 1 sec intertrial interval) (The Quick Board, LLC Memphis TN). Response time, contact time, and error count was recorded for each leg during each trial. RESULTS: In total, controls performed 525 trials with the dominant leg and 555 trials with the non-dominant leg. ACLs performed 550 trials with the injured leg and 530 trials with the uninjured leg. Average time to set completion, response time, contact time, and error count did not differ by group or leg or measurement (mean or median). ACLs displayed better initial response times but failed to improve to the same extent as controls (6.1% improvement, y = -1.51x + 1110.2, R2=0.74 for non-injured; 2.7% improvement, y=-0.97x + 1004.8, R2=0.62 for ACL). Greater improvements in response time were generally observed in the (initially worse performing) non-dominant leg. In the less frequently injured (3/9) dominant leg, virtually no improvement (1.4%) in response time was observed in ACLs overall, resulting in a 341.5% relative improvement in controls. The variability of single trial response time increased from the dominant to the non-dominant leg and from the healthy to injured leg. CONCLUSIONS: Single trial analysis revealed injury-related deficits in skilled visuomotor learning years after ACL rupture and rehabilitation despite the apparent recovery of the musculoskeletal system. This suggests a central neurological association with musculoskeletal injury that may affect neuroplasticity in the affected and unaffected extremity.

Self-Corrected Comprehension of Near-Synonymous Verbs Via Comparative Visualizations

Building from previous studies, this paper explores the nature of English conceptual structure of state differentiation for the holding/carrying near-synonyms in random and paired sessions. To test for such conceptual differences, Imai & Saji’s (2013) instrument was adopted where 56 monolingual English speakers were asked to name the holding/carrying near-synonyms in random and paired sessions. In each session, the order of stimuli presentation was manipulated. In random session, the stimuli was randomized in a way that a holding action may or may not be successively followed by a carrying action; whereas, in the paired session, the stimuli was paired in a way that a holding action must be successively followed by a carrying action. The qualitative data were coded to indicate multiple cognitive categories as to how state and manner distinctions were perceived for further quantitative analysis. Overall, the results demonstrated that native English speakers have a differentiated conceptual structure for the state of holding and carrying near-synonyms and that structure is sensitive to the order of stimuli presentation. Implications for such results were discussed in terms of near-synonymous difficulty and pedagogical recommendations for L2 English learners.

Sequential Effect on Visual Classification: The Citrus Classification Paradigm

Introduction: Prior knowledge affects performances in diverse perceptual and cognitive tasks (Caillies, S. et al., 2002; Johnson, E. J., & Russo, J. E., 1984), and human can adaptively learn mean and variance of the prior distribution (Berniker M., et al., 2010). In existing studies, however, samples from prior distribution were presented in random order, thus the effect of sequential order on the construction of prior distribution has not been explicitly tested. Here, we examined how the order of stimuli presentation affects the learning of prior distribution. Methods: Experiment consists of training and test sessions. In training session, which was to expose subjects to the prior distribution of stimuli size in a particular sequence implicitly, subjects were asked to classify fresh and rotten citrus according to the color. There were three conditions. In increasing or decreasing size conditions, the size of stimuli increased or decreased gradually with additional random fluctuation. In random size condition, the size of stimuli randomly varied. Each subject ran 630 trials in one of three conditions. Distribution of stimuli diameters was uniform between 1.4° and 4.3° in visual angle for all conditions. In test session, subjects classified 420 citruses of various sizes, which follow identical distribution used in training, into three size categories (small/medium/large) based on their own criteria. In both sessions, stimuli were presented at random position in the screen to prevent making virtual criteria for classification. Results: Subjects' internal criteria for classification in test session were modulated by the order of stimuli presentation in training sessions. The proportion of 'medium' responses was the lowest in increasing size condition and the highest in decreasing size condition, presumably reflecting the difference in estimated variance of stimuli distribution. Conclusion: We showed that the order of stimuli affect the learning of prior distribution and estimating criteria for classification using a novel experimental paradigm. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016

Order of stimulus presentation influences children's acquisition in receptive identification tasks.

Receptive identification is usually taught in matching-to-sample format, which entails the presentation of an auditory sample stimulus and several visual comparison stimuli in each trial. Conflicting recommendations exist regarding the order of stimulus presentation in matching-to-sample trials. The purpose of this study was to compare acquisition in receptive identification tasks under 2 conditions: when the sample was presented before the comparisons (sample first) and when the comparisons were presented before the sample (comparison first). Participants included 4 typically developing kindergarten-age boys. Stimuli, which included birds and flags, were presented on a computer screen. Acquisition in the 2 conditions was compared in an adapted alternating-treatments design combined with a multiple baseline design across stimulus sets. All participants took fewer trials to meet the mastery criterion in the sample-first condition than in the comparison-first condition.

Impossible expectations: fMRI adaptation in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) is modulated by the statistical regularities of 3D structural information

fMRI adaptation (fMRIa), the attenuation of fMRI signal which follows repeated presentation of a stimulus, is a well-documented phenomenon. Yet, the underlying neural mechanisms supporting this effect are not fully understood. Recently, short-term perceptual expectations, induced by specific experimental settings, were shown to play an important modulating role in fMRIa. Here we examined the role of long-term expectations, based on 3D structural statistical regularities, in the modulation of fMRIa. To this end, human participants underwent fMRI scanning while performing a same–different task on pairs of possible (regular, expected) objects and spatially impossible (irregular, unexpected) objects. We hypothesized that given the spatial irregularity of impossible objects in relation to real-world visual experience, the visual system would always generate a prediction which is biased to the possible version of the objects. Consistently, fMRIa effects in the lateral occipital cortex (LOC) were found for possible, but not for impossible objects. Additionally, in alternating trials the order of stimulus presentation modulated LOC activity. That is, reduced activation was observed in trials in which the impossible version of the object served as the prime object (i.e. first object) and was followed by the possible version compared to the reverse order. These results were also supported by the behavioral advantage observed for trials that were primed by possible objects. Together, these findings strongly emphasize the importance of perceptual expectations in object representation and provide novel evidence for the role of real-world statistical regularities in eliciting fMRIa.

Spelling Instruction by Stimulus Pairing in Japanese Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Effects of Stimulus Presentation Order

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties in learning stimulus relations in spelling. Using the two-stimulus pairing procedure, we examined the emergence of stimulus relations between Japanese and English words by comparing the spelling performance of five students with ASD with that of five typically developing students. In the Japanese-English pairing procedure, a Japanese word was presented first, followed by its English translation, and in the English-Japanese pairing, an English word was presented first, followed by its Japanese translation. Training effects were evaluated with a sign test and analysis of variance. All the students correctly spelled the English words in both procedures. The Japanese-English pairing procedure required fewer training blocks than the English-Japanese pairing procedure. In the Japanese-English pairing, students with ASD required fewer training blocks than typically developing students. These results suggest that presenting already established words (i.e., Japanese) first might better facilitate the emergence of stimulus relations in a stimulus pairing procedure.

Order of Stimulus Presentation Modulates Interference in Stroop Matching Tasks: A Reaction Time Study

Resumen en: In the classic Stroop effect, the time spent to name the color of an incongruent stimulus (GREEN in blue) is longer than the time necessary to name the c...

Sensitivity to timing and order in human visual cortex.

Visual recognition takes a small fraction of a second and relies on the cascade of signals along the ventral visual stream. Given the rapid path through multiple processing steps between photoreceptors and higher visual areas, information must progress from stage to stage very quickly. This rapid progression of information suggests that fine temporal details of the neural response may be important to the brain's encoding of visual signals. We investigated how changes in the relative timing of incoming visual stimulation affect the representation of object information by recording intracranial field potentials along the human ventral visual stream while subjects recognized objects whose parts were presented with varying asynchrony. Visual responses along the ventral stream were sensitive to timing differences as small as 17 ms between parts. In particular, there was a strong dependency on the temporal order of stimulus presentation, even at short asynchronies. From these observations we infer that the neural representation of complex information in visual cortex can be modulated by rapid dynamics on scales of tens of milliseconds.

Examining the locus of the attentional attraction effect.

Our spatial perception is not always veridical. Indeed, systematic distortions in localization have been found to result from orienting of attention. Distorted localization is inferred from tasks wherein the subject reports the location of centrally presented parallel (vernier) line stimuli. Particularly, prior to the presentation of the lines, a shift of attention toward peripheral cues produces a mislocalization of the line stimuli away from the cues (termed the attentional repulsion effect [ARE]). However, if the shift of attention is induced after target presentation, by reversing the order of stimulus presentation, a substantial mislocalization toward the cues (attentional attraction effect [AAE]) is found. The purpose of this study was to identify whether the AAE arises from the modulation in the same processes as the ARE. While an interocular presentation of cues to one eye and vernier lines to the other was previously shown to eliminate the ARE, the AAE persists across both the interocular and monocular conditions (both the cues and vernier lines are presented to the same eye). Considering Ono and Watanabe's (2011) suggestion that memory traces may be involved in generating the AAE, this prospect was examined by having participants delay their response for a short (100 ms) or long (1,000 ms) period of time. The magnitude of AAE was larger with a longer delay, consistent with the involvement of visual memory. Next, to directly examine the role of spatial working memory, the attentional attraction task was embedded within either a spatial memory task (remembering the locations of one or three squares) or a color memory task (remembering the color of one or three squares). Only high spatial memory load reduced the magnitude of AAE. Our results suggest the AAE relies on changes to different visual processes than does the ARE and involves spatial working memory.

An electrophysiological study of haptic roughness: Effects of levels of texture and stimulus uncertainty in the P300

This study investigated the neural mechanisms implicated in tactile perception using a discrimination task. We also investigated the influence of the type of presentation on the subject׳s uncertainty. The stimuli varied across four levels of roughness and were presented using a pure/mixed block design. We used an oddball paradigm with three target stimuli varying in the level of roughness, and a smooth surface as the non-target. Stimuli were presented using a specific-purpose device. We analyzed the modulation of the P300 amplitude elicited by targets and non-targets in both presentation conditions. The results showed that the P300 waveform was modulated by roughness, as well as by the order of stimuli presentation. The P300 amplitude was more sensitive to roughness when stimuli were presented in mixed blocks (higher uncertainty). The results are discussed in the context of the attention resources allocation theory applied to tactile modality.

Audiovisual Speech Integration in the Brain: Semantics and Temporal Synchrony

In everyday life we merge information from our different senses in order to perceive the external world. The binding of multisensory input, known as multisensory integration, results in a coherent and unified experience of extenal events, increases their detection, disambiguates their discrimination, leads to faster reaction times, and improves accuracy as opposed to unisensory input (e.g., Stein & Meredith, 1993). However, the accomplishment of integration depends on numerous low- and high-level factors. Low-level structural factors refer to temporal synchrony and spatial location of the stimuli, as well as any temporal correlation between them. Higher-lever cognitive factors refer to semantic congruency, perceptual grouping, and phenomenal causality (Spence, 2007). One very popular theory in multisensory perception is the ‘unity assumption’ according to which, when signals from different modalities have many common amodal properties, it is more probable the perceptual system to treat them as originating from the same source (Vroomen & Keetels, 2010).A typical event that is being influenced from all the above factors is audiovisual speech. Face-to-face communication requires the integration of the auditory (voice) and visual (lip and facial movements) information of a given speaker(s). One important aspect of speech is the tolerance of larger stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) as compared to nonspeech signals (e.g., bigger temporal window of integration for speech as compared to object actions; e.g., van Wassenhove, Grant, & Poeppel, 2007; Vatakis & Spence, 2007). Apart from the growing size of behavioral studies on the topic, the past decade a number of neuroimaging studies have focused on the neural basis of speech integration. A number of brain regions that have repeatedly been reported in audiovisual speech integration include high-level associative or integrative cortices such as the superior temporal sulcus (STS), intraparietal sulcus (IPS), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and insula, as well as subcortical regions such as the superior colliculus (SC) and primary sensory cortices (Calvert, Campbell, & Brammer, 2000; Macaluso et al., 2004; Stevenson et al., 2010). One common problem in studies investigating speech perception is the use of continuous speech which is a quite complex stimulus leading to larger and more variable temporal windows of integration as compared to brief speech stimuli (e.g., syllables, words; Vatakis & Spence, 2010). Another issue pertains to the possible recalibration effects due to the lengthy exposure to the asynchrony presented (e.g., Navarra et al., 2005).In the present study by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we intend to examine the effect of semantics and temporal synchrony in unity as well as how this translates in brain activations. More specifically, we are going to use words and pseudo-words (two syllables long at most, thus controlling for complexity and recalibration effects), which will be presented in both the visual and auditory modality under different SOA's. The sensory inputs will be presented in congruent (matching voice and lip/facial movements) and incongruent (mismatching voice and lip/facial movements) format (cf. Vatakis & Spence, 2008). Two tasks will be utilized in a block format. An explicit task, where participants will be required to detect the stimulus congruency, and an implicit task, where participants will be required to report the order of stimulus presentation (i.e., temporal order judgment task; TOJ). Both tasks will allow for the identification of activations related to the semantic relatedness of the stimuli, while the latter task will allow for the examination of visual and auditory speech influence in audiovisual speech integration. This experimental paradigm will allow us to identify the determinants of speech perception, given that our stimuli do not differ along physical (same temporal structure and complexity) and linguistic dimensions (same phonology) except for the semantics.

Examining the Locus of the Attentional Attraction Effect

Our spatial perception is not always veridical. Indeed, systematic distortions in localization have been found to result from orienting of attention. Distorted localization is inferred from tasks wherein the subject reports the location of centrally presented parallel (vernier) line stimuli. Particularly, prior to the presentation of the lines, a shift of attention toward peripheral cues produces a mislocalization of the line stimuli away from the cues (termed the attentional repulsion effect [ARE]). However, if the shift of attention is induced after target presentation, by reversing the order of stimulus presentation, a substantial mislocalization toward the cues (attentional attraction effect [AAE]) is found. The purpose of this study was to identify whether the AAE arises from the modulation in the same processes as the ARE. While an interocular presentation of cues to one eye and vernier lines to the other was previously shown to eliminate the ARE, the AAE persists across both the interocular and monocular conditions (both the cues and vernier lines are presented to the same eye). Considering Ono and Watanabe’s (2011) suggestion that memory traces may be involved in generating the AAE, this prospect was examined by having participants delay their response for a short (100 ms) or long (1,000 ms) period of time. The magnitude of AAE was larger with a longer delay, consistent with the involvement of visual memory. Next, to directly examine the role of spatial working memory, the attentional attraction task was embedded within either a spatial memory task (remembering the locations of one or three squares) or a color memory task (remembering the color of one or three squares). Only high spatial memory load reduced the magnitude of AAE. Our results suggest the AAE relies on changes to different visual processes than does the ARE and involves spatial working memory.

Hemispheric lateralization and acoustic change complex in individuals with normal hearing

The specific objectives formulated were to compare the latency and amplitude of acoustic change complex (ACC) for /sa/ and /si/ in terms of (1) ipsilateral and contralateral recording sites and (2) laterality in the right and left ears among male and female participants. Fifteen right-handed individuals (seven male, eight female) with normal hearing in the age range of 18–25 years participated in the study. The ACC were recorded by placing non-inverting electrodes on the cortex (C3 and C4) and a reference electrode on the ipsilateral mastoid of the test ear. To record the ACC, the stimulus (/sa/ or /si/) was presented separately to the right and left ears through an insert phone. The order of stimulus presentation and ear of stimulation were counter balanced across the participants. It was found that the mean latencies of ACC components were larger for /sa/ than for /si/, but significant difference noted in N1. Further, the mean latencies of N1 and P2 were shorter at the ipsilateral site when the right ear was stimulated and also at the contralateral site when the left ear was stimulated, suggesting rightward lateralization. The mean latencies of 2N1 and 2P2 were shorter at the ipsilateral site when the left ear was stimulated and at the contralateral site when the right ear was stimulated, indicative of leftward lateralization. However, the amplitude of the ACC components did not follow any trend among the stimuli at each recording site, presented at either ear. Further, female participants had a shorter latency and larger amplitude of ACC than the male participants, though not significant. The finding of the current study provides an insight into the utility of the ACC in detecting the subtle changes in ongoing stimulus. The rightward lateralization to the onset portion of stimulus and leftward lateralization to the transition portion of stimulus is due to the inherent rate mechanism at the cortical level.

Pigeons integrate past knowledge across sensory modalities

Advanced inferring abilities that are used for predator recognition and avoidance have been documented in a variety of animal species that produce alarm calls. In contrast, evidence for cognitive abilities that underpin predation avoidance in nonalarm-calling species is restricted to associative learning of heterospecific alarm calls and predator presence. We investigated cognitive capacities that underlie the perception and computation of external information beyond associative learning by addressing contextual information processing in pigeons, Columba livia, a bird species without specific alarm calls. We used a habituation/dishabituation paradigm across sensory modes to test pigeons' context-dependent inferring abilities. The birds reliably took previous knowledge about predator presence into account and responded with predator-specific scanning behaviour only if predator presence was not indicated before or if the perceived level of urgency increased. Hence, pigeons' antipredator behaviour was not based on the physical properties of displayed stimuli or their referential content alone but on contextual information, indicated by the kind and order of stimulus presentation and different sensory modes.

Neural correlates of spatial working memory load in a delayed match-to-sample saccade task

We propose a new way to identify the neural correlates of memory load in a delayed match-to-sample saccade task with a constant perceptual load. Two conditions were compared with low and high memory loads. In the low-load condition, a rectangular shaped probe defined by its color and orientation was presented centrally. After a delay period, four stimuli were presented peripherally, one in each quadrant. The participants were instructed to saccade to the stimulus that matched the previously viewed sample on both color and orientation. In the high-load condition, the order of stimulus presentation was reversed: first four eccentric stimuli were presented and after a delay the central probe. In the high-load condition, the participant executed a saccade to the remembered location of the stimulus that matched the central probe in color and orientation. The behavioral results indicate that greater working memory load is associated with prolonged saccadic reaction times. A general linear model revealed regions in prefrontal cortex (left anterior insula, right superior and middle frontal gyrus, anterior medial cingulum), and bilaterally along the intraparietal sulcus extending into surrounding areas (precuneus, superior and inferior parietal lobe) that were more activated when participants had to conjointly remember the locations, colors and orientations of four objects (load-4) compared to when they only had to remember the features of a single object (load-1). Specific responses for greater working memory load are focused on regions responsible for feature binding (occipital-temporal cortex) and allocation of attention (anterior insular cortex). Multivariate pattern analysis during the retrieval period of a trial revealed voxel clusters in the ventral visual pathway and the frontal eye fields that correctly classify the target location during the retrieval period of both tasks.